• by Fern Siegel , December 10, 2009

It's official -- eight Nielsen brands, including The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek, have a new owner. e5 Global Media, a new joint venture of Pluribus Capital, a media partnership, and Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm, have acquired several iconic titles from Nielsen Co.

Lachlan Murdoch, head of Illyria, a private investment company, dropped out of the bidding. He was initially expected to participate in the sale.

The purchase, for an estimated $70 million, includes both the magazines and Web sites of Billboard, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Back Stage and Film Journal International. Plus, e5 gets Nielsen's film expo business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows, as well as the Clios, as part of the deal.

James A. Finklestein, who co-founded Pluribus, will become chair of e5 Global Media.

Nielsen said it continues to assess the strategic fit of other publications. Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media, stated that divesting the titles is an opportunity for the company to "focus its investment on its core businesses and those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth, including our leading trade show group."

Separately, Nielsen announced it is closing two venerable magazines: Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews.